The headline-grabbing moment that students trashed the Conservative party headquarters on Millbank, graphically showed the unpopularity of the government's decision to treble tuition fees. Trevor Beattie, the adman behind famous ad campaigns for Wonderbra and French Connection, has responded by opening up the doors of his agency to wannabe advertising executives who don't have a degree.

Beattie may have a highly honed instinct for a PR opportunity, and the initiative fits in well with his staunchly Labour roots; but the decision nevertheless puts the magnifying glass on the future of recruitment in the media industries. His agency, BMB, has renamed its young talent hunting scheme the "Non Grad, Grad Recruitment Programme" and is for the first time inviting candidates who do not have a degree but who feel that they can "demonstrate their suitability for the job via other means".

"This is a timely response to the government's proposed university tuition fee hikes which may mean the talent of the future won't necessarily choose or be able to afford to take degrees," the agency said. "Our belief is that talented people who don't have sufficient funds and resources behind them will undoubtedly be precluded from the university education system."

However, the creative industries remain a tough nut to crack – unless you are white, middle class and have family contacts.

Industry body the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising says there are 38 ad agencies on its books running formal recruitment programmes, and well over 20,000 students are likely to express an interest in what may turn out to be less than 1,000 jobs. "Adland continues to be a largely white middle class industry," said IPA director general Hamish Pringle, echoing Greg Dyke's infamous observation that the BBC in his time was a "hideously white" organisation. For its part the IPA offers an online self-assessment certificate, Diagonal Thinking, which aims to allow "people from any walk of life" to identify if they are suitable for an agency career.

Beattie's agency admits that beyond the tuition fee flashpoint there is "long ingrained industry prejudice" that needs to be tackled. "The advertising industry has traditionally recruited from a very narrow pool of talent, biased towards more privileged members of society," the agency said. "For a business that relies on insight and understanding of 'regular' people and popular culture, this is not only unfair, but seems illogical too."